Keokuk, IA – Tuesday evening as the sun set over the Mississippi river near Sandusky, Iowa, Suarez, the local Sheriff served an eviction notice to the Mississippi Stand camp where last Saturday over 200 people from local communities and across the country protested peacefully to challenge the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL). Energy Transfer, the company building the pipeline, is boring under the Mississippi River against the wishes of many local residents.

In the face of such broad support, the Sheriff’s office, Suarez, and county attorney, Micheal P. Short, have decided to take the side of Energy Transfer, which has used eminent domain against local landowners and which threatens sacred and traditional Native territories along the pipeline route.Energy Transfer’s pipeline would move approximatly 470,000 barrels oil per day with capacity to move 570,000 barrels daily from the Bakken fields of North Dakota to be exported out to the gulf. The entire pipeline is projected to create only 40 jobs.

The Sheriff will arrive at the Mississippi Stand camp Thursday, October 6th in an attempt to evict dozens of campers and local community supporters. Those at Mississippi Stand have vowed to continue taking action to stop pipeline construction as Energy Transfer’s October 31st deadline. With their numbers swelling each day, the camp plans to remain strong and continue its mission in spite of Thursday’s eviction threat and will offer an alternative location for those wishing to support.

The encampment known as Mississippi Stand has been in place since August 31st and was established in solidarity with Standing Rock, a Lakota camp challenging DAPL in North Dakota, and other Native American efforts to stop construction from destroying sacred and traditional lands. Workers are boring under the Mississippi river 24 hours a day. About 100 people have been arrested while peacefully protesting at the site to date. Public input was not allowed during planning for the pipeline route and permits were hastily granted without proper environmental studies. There are major community concerns around the safety of the project for the quality of the Missouri, Mississippi and Illinois Rivers.

Protectors are calling on supporters to come to camp and to call county attorney Micheal P. Short at 319-524-9590. Camper Jim Arenz, a 54-year-old from Milledgeville, IL has answered the call stating, “I’m here for my children and my grandchildren. We have a responsibility to leave them a better world than we inherited. More than 30 million people depend on the Mississippi River for drinking water. None of us get the economic benefits of this pipeline, but when it ruptures all of us will pay the cost.”

Over 400 People March in Philly #NoDAPL Solidarity Action

PHILADELPHIA — On Saturday afternoon, over 400 Philadelphia residents marched through Center City in response to a global call for solidarity action against funders of the Dakota Access Pipeline. Thousands of water protectors, led by the Standing Rock Sioux, are camped near pipeline construction in North Dakota. The Camps aim to halt the Dakota Access Pipeline, which would pass beneath the Missouri River, threatening the water supply of millions. The crowd stopped at multiple TD bank locations. Earlier in the day, business was disrupted at 5 TD Bank locations resulting in 7 arrests and several branch closings. TD Bank is one of the top banks financing the Dakota Access Pipeline.

“We in Philly stand with the Standing Rock Sioux today. The Dakota Access Pipeline threatens our Native land, sovereignty and water. We call on TD Bank to stop its funding of the Dakota Access Pipeline and to stand up for Indigenous rights,” said Charlie Under Baggage, Philadelphia resident and citizen of the Oglala Lakota Tribe of the Pine Ridge Reservation.

TD Securities has pledged $365M committed to the project, in revolving credit and project-level loans*. It is also a Coordinating Lead Arranger and Joint Bookrunner of a credit agreement with Dakota Access, LLC.

“We know that only by unifying as so many have done in Bismarck, ND and in cities across the United States, we can stop this pipeline and prevent further injustices against Native communities. When we stand with our allies in communities of color, in environmental justice communities and with Indigenous people worldwide, we are unbreakable.” said Liz Ellis, who is Peoria, and a postdoctoral fellow of early American studies at UPenn.

The march was organized by Philly #NoDAPL Solidarity, a coalition of Native Americans and non-Native allies, who have come together to support the Standing Rock Sioux in their struggle, and accelerate the termination of the Dakota Access Pipeline.

Energy Transfer Partners and Sunoco Logistics (together, majority owners of Dakota Access, LLC) are also heavily involved locally, in the Philadelphia Energy Solutions refinery and the Mariner East pipeline. Philly #NoDAPL recognizes the connectedness of these struggles and the need to unify broadly to win.

Statement of Solidarity with the Red Warrior and Sacred Stone Camps in North Dakota

Pittsburgh, PA: Rising Tide North America released this statement in solidarity with the continuing resistance to the Dakota Access Pipeline in North Dakota:

“For months, the Standing Rock Sioux nation and Indigenous communities from across the continent against have captured the imagination of the world with a bold stand against the Dakota Access Pipeline and the energy companies, the politicians and police that are determined to build it. The actions of literally thousands have delayed the pipeline’s construction and brought its construction to a standstill.

The Dakota Access Pipeline is a 1,170-mile long oil pipeline that originates in the Bakken oilfields of western North Dakota. It will carry 470,000 barrels of crude a day to Pakota, Illinois where it will link with other pipelines and be carried to refineries around the country. If built, the pipeline will be a cultural and environmental threat to the Standing Rock Sioux. The pipeline crosses the nation’s traditional hunting, fishing and burial territory as well as directly crossing under the Missouri River, the Sioux’s main source of water.

Police have responded with heavy handed arrests of Indigenous activists and removed free access to the Red Warrior and Sacred Stone camps near the pipeline construction site. Politicians in North Dakota have declared a state of emergency to discredit the protest camps. Corporations seeking to profit from the pipeline have filed civil litigation against hundreds of protesters to silence the dissent of communities facing a future of poisoned land, water and air.

We believe that the extraction of fossil fuels like Bakken oil, and the expansion of pipelines and other transportation infrastructure, is a dangerous threat to our communities, our wild places and the climate. We further believe that these practices gravely threaten the health, safety and traditional land rights of Indigenous communities.

If we are determined to prevent the pursuit of extreme energy from destroying our communities, natural systems and climate, then peaceful, but confrontational, protests like the Red Warrior and Sacred Stone camps are necessary actions for change.

For over a decade, there has been an unprecedented show of unity from environmental and social justice communities for those fighting for justice and ecology and this time is no different. There is not an inch of daylight between us and those blocking construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline in North Dakota. We stand with them as we’ve stood with those fighting mountaintop removal coal mining in Appalachia, those that fought the Keystone XL Pipeline from Alberta to Texas, those challenging fighting fossil fuel extraction and infrastructure across this country and those that continue to fight for Indigenous rights.